Parley Dutson: FLDS Lost Boy, Retrial, and 15-to-Life Sentence

The Parley Dutson case is the Utah prosecution of Parley Jeffs Dutson, an 18-year-old former member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, for the April 7, 2007 shooting death of his 15-year-old girlfriend Kara Hopkins at a West Jordan apartment. A jury convicted him of murder and aggravated sexual assault in 2008. The trial judge later threw out that verdict because a juror had failed to disclose she had been raped at the same age as the victim. Rather than face a retrial, Dutson pleaded guilty to first-degree felony murder in September 2009 and was sentenced that December to 15 years to life in the Utah State Prison.¹

The Shooting at Willow Cove Apartments

In the early morning hours of April 7, 2007, Dutson and Hopkins attended a small party at the Willow Cove Apartments near 9300 South Redwood Road in West Jordan. Court documents and witness statements describe Dutson as having consumed alcohol, marijuana, and a homemade brew of hallucinogenic mushrooms mixed with Kool-Aid. Witnesses told police his behavior was erratic and “indicative of a psychedelic physiological response.”²

According to prosecutors, Dutson demanded that Hopkins have sex with him in front of the other partygoers. When she refused, he became enraged. Witnesses described what prosecutors called a “cat-and-mouse game,” with Dutson pointing a gun at Hopkins as she ducked and tried to escape, lowering and raising the weapon.³ He threw her against a wall and attempted to remove her clothing. Hopkins tried to hide behind another man who was trying to intervene. Dutson pulled a black revolver and shot her in the back of the head.⁴

Other partygoers left the apartment to seek help. A security guard named Cody Cross, patrolling the complex, entered the unit and found Dutson in his underwear and a T-shirt next to the victim. According to the probable cause statement written by Detective Daniel Roberts, Cross heard Dutson chanting words “indicating a desire to have sex with Ms. Hopkins until she died.”² Hopkins was taken to LDS Hospital and pronounced dead at approximately 11:45 p.m. that evening.⁵

Who Parley Dutson Was

Dutson grew up in the FLDS twin-city enclave of Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah. His father, Bygnal Dutson, served on the Colorado City Town Council.⁵ He left the community around age 16, becoming one of the “Lost Boys,” the term used for teenage boys and young men expelled from or fled the FLDS. His defense would later argue that after leaving, he encountered a “difficult life outside the FLDS world” and turned to alcohol and drugs.⁶ Shannon Price, director of the Diversity Foundation, said Dutson’s alleged actions were “not typical of the population” of Lost Boys.⁷

Kara Hopkins was Dutson’s girlfriend, and her family considered him a friend.¹

The Charges and 2008 Trial

Dutson was charged in Utah’s 3rd District Court with two first-degree felonies: murder and aggravated sexual assault.⁵ The trial began on June 17, 2008, before Judge Royal Hansen.

Two apartment security guards testified that when they entered the apartment, they found Dutson sitting between the legs of the victim, who was nearly naked, and that he was “thrusting his pelvis in a sexual manner at the floor.” They said Dutson told them he wanted to have sex with her “until she was dead.” A medical examiner testified there were no signs of injury consistent with rape.⁸

The defense did not dispute that Dutson had shot Hopkins. Attorney Denise Porter framed the issue as his mental state: “There is no doubt that [Hopkins] was shot and no doubt of who shot her. The question is the reasons [Dutson] shot Kara. What was going on in his head that night?”⁸ Dutson took the stand and testified he had consumed a large quantity of the mushroom tea and was “too high” to remember the shooting. He acknowledged buying the black revolver a year earlier and said he had loaded it that night because of paranoia about a mushroom dealer named “Curtis.” He told the jury, “I don’t remember doing it, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.”⁹

In July 2008, the jury convicted him on both counts.¹⁰

Why the Conviction Was Overturned

After the verdict, a defense investigator interviewing jurors learned that one female juror had failed to disclose she had been raped at age 15, the same age as Hopkins. The pre-trial questionnaire had asked whether prospective jurors had ever been victims of a crime. The information only came to light because the juror mentioned the assault to fellow jurors during deliberations.¹⁰

At a hearing on the issue, the juror testified she did not intend to mislead the court. She said the assault “did not come to mind” during jury selection because she had never reported it to police and did not consider herself a “crime victim.” Prosecutor Kimberley Crandall argued the juror had not been dishonest, noting she was asked a general question about victimization rather than a specific one about sexual assault. Defense attorney McCaye Christianson countered that the juror’s personal history bore “many similarities to what happened to” Hopkins and had compromised Dutson’s right to a fair trial.¹¹

Judge Hansen sided with the defense. In a written ruling, he found a “high likelihood” the juror would have been dismissed had she disclosed the rape on her questionnaire and that her omission deprived Dutson of his constitutional right to a “fair and impartial jury.” He overturned the conviction and ordered a new trial.¹⁰

Guilty Plea and 15-to-Life Sentence

Rather than face a second trial, Dutson entered a plea bargain. On September 1, 2009, he pleaded guilty to a single count of first-degree felony murder, and prosecutors dropped the aggravated sexual assault charge.³

Sentencing took place on December 9, 2009, before Judge Hansen. Dutson addressed the court: “I can’t expect [Patty] to forgive me. I’m not asking her to. I’m not asking for mercy, only justice. Words seem insignificant when I try to express the way I feel. I’m very sorry for what I’ve done.”¹²

Patricia Hopkins, Kara’s mother, told the court she had “mixed feelings” about the man she called a family friend. “We know he loved her, and we loved him,” she said. She said she believed Dutson would not have intentionally harmed her daughter but that the drugs he consumed that night were “no excuse for killing her.” She asked the judge for permission to give Dutson a framed photograph of Kara. Judge Hansen denied the request in the courtroom for security reasons but said the photograph could be transferred through Dutson’s attorneys.¹

Hansen sentenced Dutson to 15 years to life in the Utah State Prison, saying, “One of the tragedies of this case is we can do nothing to restore the life of Kara Hopkins.”¹

1
Deseret News. Man Sentenced in Girlfriend’s Homicide
2
Deseret News. Murder, Sex Charges Filed in West Jordan Slaying
3
Deseret News. Man Enters Guilty Plea in Teen’s Death
4
The Salt Lake Tribune. Murder, Sex Charges Filed in West Jordan Slaying
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The Salt Lake Tribune. Murder, Sex Charges Filed in West Jordan Slaying
6
Deseret News. Former Lost Boy Pleads Guilty to Killing Girlfriend
7
Deseret News. Accused Man Has Ties to FLDS Towns
8
The Salt Lake Tribune. Trial Coverage of Parley Dutson Case
9
The Salt Lake Tribune. Dutson Testifies He Was Too High to Remember Shooting
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The Salt Lake Tribune. Judge Overturns Dutson Conviction, Orders New Trial
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Deseret News. Judge May Schedule New Trial in Murder Case
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The Salt Lake Tribune. Dutson Sentenced to 15 Years to Life